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I have a Woo + pizza stone (got the combo from CGS and its less expensive than a placesetter). It does indirect cooks just fine and provides the spider and raised grill options. I don't know if there is a benefit to the platesetter when doing pizza or other dishes compared to the woo + stone since I haven't tried pizza yet.

If i had known about CGS, I probably would have gone spider/pizza stone.

That is my point about the platesetter being a BGE product. The vast majority of people don;t know about forums such as this one. They buy the egg, the dealer explains what the platesetter does and they buy it.

When you start gaining more knowledge about ceramic grill cooking, then you know there are other options out there to consider.

I am looking for an alternative to a platesetter for indirect cooks on my XL.
I've thought about just laying 2 stainless steel rods on top of the fire ring to use as supports for a ceramic stone.
Anyone see any issues with this setup?

That won't raise your grill much. Another is to buy a second grill. Place one grill on the fire ring. Use two fire bricks to make "T" on the grill (set bricks on their end to raise the level) and put your second grill on top of the fire bricks. I tried to break my fire bricks and jacked up most of the. If you have a miter saw you could buy a brick saw blade and make some clean cuts to place around the fire ring then you could use only one grill.

Like cajunrph said, buy some extra grill grates. Using a few bricks, cans or otherwise using MacGyver techniques, fashion "shade" for your food. Adjust food height above shade to optimal height in the dome. You don't need anything fancy and it isn't hard to do. Use a pizza stone, cast iron skillet or something for the shade.

______________________________________________This is my signature line just so you're not confused.Large and Medium BGE, Kamado Joe Jr., smoker with a 5k btu AC, gas grill, fire pit, pack of angry cats, two turntables and a microphone, my friend. Registered republican. New Orleans, LA - we know how to eat

Get a spider and a grid to fit over it. With those two simple items and about 6 different fire bricks you can make any cook set up that will rival the AR or Woo..Those are great gadgets, however they are rather pricey. If you don't mind spending the cash, by all means go that route, but there are creative alternatives. I bought an extra upper grid and used some carriage bolts to make my second tier. My brother made my spider from stainless square stock and gave it to me as a birthday present. I paid $1.70 each for my fire bricks. My plate setter cracked while under warranty and I called to get a replacement. They sent me an XL instead of a Large. Well, I just cut the legs off and made an Octagon stone that is much more durable than any pizza stone you can buy.

One vote for the BGE Plate Setter. I just received my Woo and have been experimenting with different setups.I like this configuration with my PSWoo3 and the BGE plate setter for Pizza. This provides a nice air gap and stable platform for the pizza stone.